Not the easiest of away games for Club on Match Day 10, making its way to Standard de Liège. The tenth minute opener by Bokadi was cancelled away by Skov Olsen with minutes to play, but Price's deflected shot made it 2-1 to Standard in the dying seconds of the game.
The boost of confidence that came with the Conference League win at Bodø/Glimt kept coach Deila from making too many changes to his Starting XI for the clash with Standard only three days later. With Meijer, Nusa and Skov Olsen the selection was injected with even more quality, and the latter even made it to kick-off, at the expense of Skóraś. One other change to be noted, with Jutglà coming on for Thiago up front. Much had been said and written about the return of both Zinckernagel and coach Deila to their former employer, and at Standard side, another familiar face with Carl Hoefkens manned the bench as T1.
Club needed a good start to the game, and did so with lots of possession, but withouth any clear danger. The first real threat of the game came through Standard, Bokadi beautifully heading in a Kawabe free kick past Mignolet. An elaborate VAR check seemed to point towards an off-side position, but the goal was awarded nonetheless. The momentum now clearly shifted towards the hosts, and in the next ten minutes Club's goal was under fire and Mignolet was called upon a couple of times to deny a second. Kanga was sent deep and aimed for th upper left hand corner, but Mignolet saved in style. One minute later Hayden tried his luck after a corner kick, but his close range shot went over.
The visitors had trouble getting back in the swing of things, but out of nothing an excellent chance arrived, Vanaken producing an excellent heading opportunity for Jutglà, but the latter unfortunately could not frame his attempt. Another Club attempt followed soon after, but this time Zinckernagel saw his close range shot blocked by both Fossey and Hayden. Blue & Black grew stronger, but just when the cards seemed more in Club's favour, Kawabe proved the more alert when a ball came to him, but his shot went straight at Mignolet. Club's Nr 1 had brought his A game, and was called into action again, as Ngoy dribbled his way through the Club defense and managed to deviate the ball towards goal. In a game that went from side to side, Club had two more first half opportunities: Bodart first pawed away Zinckernagel's free kick from below the crossbar, and a bit later the woodwork kept De Cuyper from equalising with a surprising curled effot. Another excellent chance followed, but this time Bodart proved the better of a great effort by Zinckernagel, keeping the score at 1-0 as the two teams headed for the dressing rooms in a fiery Sclessin.
The second half started with the same 22 protagonists, and just like in the first half, it was Club that started pushing Standard against its own goal. Just like in the first half, however, the first real danger was for Standard, but this ime Kanga couldn't make the most of his shot from within the box going wide. Upon the hour mark, another Bodart parade avoided the equaliser, as Skov Olsen in typical Skov Olsen style cut inside and went for the far corner, only to see the goalie glide towards the ball and tap it wide. The result still unchanged, coach Deila reacted by bringing on four new players, among them Thiago and Nusa.
And Nusa came with more attacking flourishes, forcing Bodart to another great save as he tried his luck from afar. The corner that followed came to Skov Olsen, with a one-time effort from outside the box. The Danish winger was unable to keep the ball low, however. The visitors now kept piling on the pressure, explicitly looking for Nusa to force the decision. One brilliant action later, Nusa went past two defenders and aimed for the first corner, where his effort again met with a seemingly unbeatable Bodart. No reason to despair, however; Nielsen with the push inside to find the Dane by the edge of the box, who pulled the ball to his left foot and grappled it in by the far post to finally beat Bodart and finally give Club what it deserved.
Club now seemed on its way to go over Standard, but by the end of the 90 minutes, it received another blow. Kanga held back his defender to lay it off to Price, whose shot deflected off Nielsen into the far corner. Sclessin exploded as Club Brugge suffered its second defeat of the season after a performance that deserved better.
Jupiler Pro League – Match Day 10
Audience: 27,670 – Maurice Dufrasne Stadium
Ref: Erik Lambrechts
Standard: Arnaud Bodart – Zinho Vanheusden, Merveille Bope Bokadi, Nathan Ngoy – Marlon Fossey (68’ Gilles Dewaele), Isaac Heyden (80’ Aiden O’Neill), Steven Alzate, Hayao Kawabe (68’ Isaac Price), Moussa Djenepo (80’ Cihan Canak) – Kamal Sowah, Wilfried Kanga (90+4’ Noah Ohio).
Bench: Laurent Henkinet, Gilles Dewaele, Isaac Price, Aiden O’Neill, Cihan Canak, Noah Ohio, William Balikwisha.
Coach: Carl Hoefkens.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Denis Odoi (61’ Tajon Buchanan), Brandon Mechele, Jorne Spileers, Maxim De Cuyper – Raphael Onyedika, Hans Vanaken, Hugo Vetlesen (61’ Casper Nielsen) – Andreas Skov Olsen, Ferran Jutglà (61’ Igor Thiago), Philip Zinckernagel (61’ Antonio Nusa).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Kyani Vroman, Joel Ordóñez, Bjorn Meijer, Tajon Buchanan, Casper Nielsen, Antonio Nusa, Igor Thiago.
Coach: Ronny Deila.
Yellow: Hayden, Djenepo, Skov Olsen, Kanga, Ohio
Red: none
Goals: 11’ Bokadi (1-0), 85’ Skov Olsen (1-1), 90’ Price (2-1)